All This Cooking May Finally Pay Off

I know, all I do lately is cook, or post about cooking. To be honest, it has been over two weeks since I have played ANY video games. In fact, I dreamed about being in an arcade last night, despite the fact that I have one right in my basement. So I definitely need to reconnect to my electronic side real soon

With that said, things have been going VERY well on the culinary side of my life. My recipe for Milk Stout Arancini propelled me into the final round of Marx Foods Integrale Gauntlet. I will be competing against six other finalists to produce a risotto dish that looks as good as it tastes, because the winner will be chosen on the merits of presentation alone. Since this is not my strong suit, I am going to have to pull something big out of my hat to win the competition.

ABC's New Cooking Show

So in the midst of all this cooking, I have also been applying to various cooking related TV shows, including the one that started my whole culinary journey as it were, Master Chef. In case you missed it, I did pretty well at that live audition, making it through the first round, but never received a call back. That experience is what propelled me to create my webpage and begin working with JPnor to develop our online video series Cooking in the Great Outdoors.

Since that time, I have applied for several other culinary TV shows, including Chopped and now ABC's first foray into the genre, currently titled The New Cooking Show (I know, apparently it is a working title). This new series is a cooking competetion co-hosted by Anthony Bourdain (of No Reservations fame) and Nigella Lawson. For each of these shows, potential contestants submit a written application, followed by either a live audition or a video taped submission. Even with my experience filming CITGO, I prefer the live audition format as it allows me to showcase my personality without coming across as scripted. However, the live auditions will not be coming to Boston and the closest open call is scheduled in New York City on the first day of my honeymoon. So I was resigned to submit a video and hope for the best.

Then yesterday I received a call from the ABC producer working on casting for the new show. She stated that she had read my written application and wanted to make sure that I was going to submit a video since there was not an open call in Boston. We spoke for about 15 minutes and she followed up with an email, once again stating that she was excited to see my audition video. So I am pretty stoked about my chances to get on the show. Obviously, nothing is definite when dealing with TV, but the call back was a nice boost.

So I made plans to head down to Cohasset, MA with some fellow kayakers and JPnor to shoot a video of us surfing a tidal wave (created by large variations in tides, NOT a 50 foot wall of water) followed up some footage of me cooking lobster and bison burgers for the group. Unfortunately, yesterday was the first sunny day, leading into the first sunny weekend, of summer here in Mass. That means that EVERYONE and their families packed up in their cars and headed out to the Cape. There is one road that leads to Cape Cod, Route 3. The way to Cohasset requires one to travel on Rt 3. I live a good 35 miles from where Rt 3 connects to I-93. I-93 was backed up to my house! Needless to say, Coahsset was not happening last night.

So I invited a bunch of friends over to my place on short notice and we shot audition tape in my yard. By the time JPnor arrived at my place and we got all set up, we were quickly losing light. We scrambled to get all of the shots in and hopefully were able to capture enough good footage to cull together the 10 minute audition tape. We are planning to cut it with some footage from the first episode of CITGO, as well as some additional footage that I took while whitewater kayaking on the Merrimack River in New Hampshire. We also took some shots of me down in my arcade last night so that we can include some of my video game geekiness into the mix.

Anyway, that is what I have been up to and why all I talk about lately is food. Hopefully you all are interested enough to follow along and see what happens. Who knows, you may even see me on TV before too long. In the meantime, check out the casting call video for ABC's New Cooking Show below.

http://youtu.be/LSOa9jaoa6w